Parking enforcement set to begin around the new arena

The City is set to enforce new parking charges and restrictions around Rogers Place.

Ryan Pleckaitis, the director of complaints and investigations, says they’ve decided 14 bylaw officers should be adequate for the first game.

“Not only dealing with the pay for parking areas — the EPark zones in and around the arena — but also dealing with offences such as parking to close to intersections, blocking accesses, and any parking restrictions that transportation has implemented or will implement like one-hour or two-hour parking restrictions in those areas,” explained Pleckaitis.

With 18,000 parking spots in areas around the new downtown arena, only ten percent are operated by the City.

And while bylaw officers may be forgiving at first when it comes to parking violations, Pleckaitis says it won’t last for long.

“Once that word is out and we have a high level of confidence that people get it, then there’s no excuses after that point. And I think especially in the residential communities where there’s higher levels of traffic congestion — issues of noise, issues of litter; property damage sometimes can occur when you have a lot of people going into those communities — that we do need to be strict with our enforcement.”

Pleckaitis says they’re creating a mailout that they’ll be sending to hundreds of properties in the areas surrounding the arena.

“Just to talk about issues of non-accessory parking; what the regulations are when it comes to that. How to deal with a vehicle that’s parked illegally on your own property. Some safety tips, how to protect your property, how to report complaints, different services — 311, 211, 911 — when to use those services.”

He says the whole point of the enforcement plan they’ve developed is that they need to be nimble and connected to the community, adding they’ll increase the deployment of bylaw enforcement officers if needed. (sj/td)